Kong

I arrive at Macau International airport around 4 pm and zoom right through immigration into the relatively small lobby. Befitting a proper American, I had never even heard of Macau until I made the airline reservations. Apparently, it's been around for awhile. Similar to Hong Kong, and only a forty minute ferry ride away, it is a special trade zone, originally settled by Portugese, way back in the day. Now it is home to a strip of casino's exported directly from Vegas, including The Venetian and MGM Grand.

I'm not sure why I thought it would be sunny and humid in Hong Kong. It isn't. It's San Francisco weather, basically. It feels kind of good. I have directions to Lilian's apartment in Discovery Bay, a highrise suburb on an island just off Hong Kong. But she won't be around until later, so I decide to stash my pack in a luggage locker and start exploring the city straight away.

I decide that it's happy hour and a nice pub full of folks happy to be off work would be a fun place to wait. So I start my search for the perfect pub. I quickly notice a few things. First, folks in central Hong Kong are extremely cosmopolitan. Well dressed, good looking. It reminds me of Sydney in that way. I begin to realize that I might resemble a homeless person to these folks in my current state. Second, they have this cool system of elevated walkways that keeps you off the street entirely and unencumbered by intersections, car traffic, and the like. It also gave me a bird's eye view. Third, there are as many caucasians here in the central district as there are Asians in San Francisco. Kind of surreal.

Using my expert urban bar sniffing skills, I looked for some older brick office buildings in the midst of the glass and steel. A neighborhood with buildings like this might offer up some charming historic spots.

Wandering through town I kept thinking to myself "Hong Kong is cool, man". It is clean, stylish, charming, the air is good, and it seems almost completely free of chaos. At every turn, the place just works very well. They have it together.



Through a mixture of left and right turn decisions, along with paying attention to the direction certain folks are walking, I land in Lan Kwai Fong, the North Beach of Hong Kong. I plop down for a happy hour cocktail. Lilian later proclaims this a super human feat of novice navigation in the city.

At some point I realize that I have somehow screwed up the time on my mobile phone and that it is a couple hours later than I think it is. Oops. Lilian is already home wondering where I am. I ferry out to DBay and have a nice, albeit it late night meal, and meet her pug, Lola, a snorty little bundle of cuteness.

I am delighted to do some laundry so that I have something, anything, that doesn't smell.... have a good hot shower, and to have access to (trumpets sound) free and fast Internet. I am in heaven.